Purúshottam Bidyádbágís to smell his food; and as this is considered half equivalent to tasting it, the unfortunate Bráhman was at once outcasted, and his descendants are known as Pír Alí Bráhmans. The wealthiest and best-known Bráhman family in Calcutta belongs to this class. There is yet another class of fallen Bráhmans, the Maruiporás, who are the officiating priests at the funeral pyre of Súdras. All these classes are now kept rigorously out of the pale of the undegraded Bráhman caste, and each of them now forms a separate community.
The Census Report of 1872 returns the Bráhman population of the 24 Parganás at 120,102.
The Kshattriyas formed the second or warrior caste in the ancient Sanscrit social fourfold classification, but it is believed that no pure Kshattriyas exist in Bengal proper at the present day. Several of the tribes of the North-Western Provinces, such as the Rájputs, and many of the Márwárí or up-country trading caste, lay claim to the rank of Kshattriyas, and it is generally conceded to them. The class is not sufficiently numerous in the 24 Parganás to deserve particular notice here, but a further description of them will be found in my Statistical Account of Bardwán, the Rájá of which place and his numerous followers belong to it. The Census Report returns the number of Kshattriyas and Rájputs in the 24 Parganas at 9546.
The Baidyas, or physicians, come next, and rank almost equally high with the Kshattriyas and Rájputs. They wear the sacred thread, and hold an intermediate position between the Bráhmans and the higher of the Súdra castes. At the present day, however, most of the Baidyas have abandoned their occupation of hereditary physicians, and have betaken themselves to various respectable occupations, principally as clerks and writers in Government employ. A Hindu legend relates the origin of the caste as follows:—Gárar Muni, a sage of ancient times, was much surprised at finding his cottage cleaned out every morning, without being able to discover by whom. Accordingly, one day he hid himself, and saw a Vaisya girl enter the cottage and set it in order. The sage then came forward, blessed her, and wished she might have a son. The girl was unmarried, but the words of the holy man once spoken could not be recalled, and in due time she gave birth to a son, called Amritáchárjya. Amritáchárjya married the daughter of Aswiníkumár, the physician of the gods, and the modern Baidyas are said to be his descendants. The popular belief, however, is that they
